The next morning.
Hestia awoke from the soft bed, sitting up with a hint of drowsiness in her eyes as she couldn't help but yawn.
"Hmm~~ Morning already."
Yesterday had been so eventful it left her utterly exhausted, and even her sleep had been unusually deep.
Still half-asleep, Hestia stretched lazily before sitting quietly on the bed for a long while, only then beginning to move.
She turned her head to the side—and her lovely face instantly darkened.
"Damn Loki, actually using the 'Seven Deadly Sins' to strong-arm my Bell."
No one was beside her. Normally, today should've been one of the days Bell held her as they slept. But last night, Loki had dragged Bell away using the 'Seven Deadly Sins', leaving her to spend the entire night alone.
That wasn't even the worst part. What truly infuriated her was simply that Loki had taken Bell away.
Just imagining Bell waking up in bed with Loki made Hestia puff up in anger.
She recalled the last time she'd gone into Freya's room and bumped straight into Bell as he was stepping out fully dressed.
This time she definitely wouldn't visit Loki's room. If she accidentally saw them still asleep together, Hestia felt she might die on the spot from irritation.
"And Artemis."
Hestia's expression darkened even further.
Artemis had been her best friend for billions of years, yet now it seemed even her closest confidante was planning to steal her Bell.
"Hmm… judging from Artemis's condition, she probably won't hold out much longer."
"Why is my Bell so attractive to goddesses?"
Hestia was terribly distressed.
She'd always known Bell was unusually charming, but the fact that it was her own girlfriends who kept getting pulled in was something she simply couldn't handle.
Now all she could do was thank the heavens that Athena hadn't descended to the lower world. Otherwise, Hestia would have to start worrying about whether Athena would fall for her child as well.
"Sigh… I guess I have to get up."
Reality had to be faced. And Hestia had already decided—her issue with Loki would absolutely not end so easily!
Leaving her room, Hestia took a brief glance toward Loki's door before pouting and heading downstairs to wash up.
But as soon as she reached the staircase, she saw that everyone in the house had already gathered in the living room on the first floor—including Loki.
Hestia immediately noticed Loki's complexion looked unnervingly good today, her skin smoother and more radiant than usual.
Hestia's face twitched as she forcibly dragged her gaze away.
"Huh?"
As her eyes moved, she instantly noticed Bell standing in the middle of the room.
But Bell's hands were covered in two distinct colors—black and white. His palms faced each other as the black and white streams of energy swirled and slowly condensed into a sphere between them.
Hestia didn't know what Bell was doing, but the moment she saw that sphere forming, an inexplicable wave of fear washed over her.
'What is that thing?'
The question echoed in her mind.
Yet she didn't make a sound. Instead, she quietly descended the stairs from the second floor.
Her eyes stayed locked on the sphere suspended between Bell's hands—the very thing that filled her with dread.
"Huff..."
Bell, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, opened them slightly. Black and white vapors continued to seep from his hands, drawn toward the sphere at the center.
Even Bell, the one who created it, had no idea what that sphere actually was.
But he could feel it—a bond between him and the sphere that could not be severed.
After letting out a controlled breath, the black and white vapors faded from his hands, and the sphere that had consumed them vanished as well.
Yet Bell could still sense its presence. It wasn't gone. It lingered in four-dimensional space… no, in a place even deeper and more obscure.
Bell could feel it clearly. He could even bring that sphere out again whenever he wished. But he also sensed its frailty—an instability born from its creation. It needed power, immense power, to be poured into it, to nurture it.
'Not yet. The time isn't right.'
Bell understood it wasn't ready to be revealed again. It still needed to incubate.
As for the power it required, Bell already had a faint idea.
'Both malice and benevolence are nourishment.'
"Bell."
"Hm?"
The voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Bell, what exactly was that thing you were gathering in your hands just now?"
Freya's expression was unusually grave. She could clearly sense how dangerous that incomplete sphere was. Before something like that, even gods were insignificant.
"What... that thing…"
Bell looked just as confused. He was completely lost. If he had even a basic understanding, he could have explained it already.
"I don't know what it is either."
"I simply shaped it with the power I've gained. But what it's actually meant for… I'm not very sure."
"Something created from your power..."
Freya's first thought went immediately to the "Seven Deadly Sins." Loki's actions yesterday meant Bell had completed collecting them. And the creation of this strange sphere right afterward—it couldn't be a coincidence.
"Bell, it's the 'Seven Deadly Sins.'"
"Yeah, I think it is too. But..."
Bell opened his palm. Black mist gathered instantly, and within moments, the air around them felt tainted—overwhelming malice spreading outward.
But before it could reach too far, white mist appeared, forming chains that wrapped around the black mist, sealing it within a fixed boundary, preventing it from spreading further.
"The black mist is definitely from the 'Seven Deadly Sins,' but the white mist…?"
Even Freya frowned at the sight.
"Strange…"
Her deep understanding of souls allowed her to sense the black mist clearly—like a poisonous corruption, constantly trying to seep outward. But the white mist could restrain it.
And within that white mist, Freya sensed something else—an energy that felt like 'self-discipline.'
The black mist's power stemmed from desire. The white mist's power stemmed from discipline and restraint.
This was—
Freya suddenly froze, realization flashing in her eyes as she looked at Bell.
"I see."